PALEONTOLOGY

10 Rugged Facts About Badlands National Park

It erodes at a rate of one inch per year.

Prehistoric Ticks Once Drank Dinosaur Blood, Fossil Evidence Shows

This is the first direct evidence that the pesky arachnids once dined on feathered dinosaurs.

Extinct Penguin Species Was the Size of an Adult Human

<em>Kumimanu biceae</em> would have dwarfed the penguins of today.

10 Ways Artists Imagined Dinosaurs Before the 21st Century

Paleoart: Visions of the Prehistoric Past explores the first 160 years of illustrating extinct species.

Courtesy of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Drumheller, Canada

The Exquisitely Preserved ‘Mona Lisa of Dinosaurs’ Has Been Named

The name Borealopelta markmitchelli honors the man who spent more than five years revealing, bit by bit, the amazing creature encased in stone.

9-Year-Old Boy Trips Over the Bones of a Long-Extinct Elephant Relative

"I just knew it was not something that you usually find."

London's Natural History Museum Has a New Star Attraction: An Amazing Blue Whale Skeleton

The skeleton is suspended from the main entrance hall's ceilings, providing visitors with a 360-degree view of the largest animal ever known to have lived on Earth.

What 6 Dinosaurs from Jurassic Park Really Looked Like

In the 24 years since the original 'Jurassic Park' was released, what we know about dinosaurs has changed a lot. Here's some of the new research that may change how you imagine these ancient animals.

Scientists Find 99-Million-Year-Old Baby Bird Preserved in Amber

The tiny hatchling belonged to a group of toothed birds that died out along with the dinosaurs.

Scientists Think They Know How Whales Got So Big

These 200-ton ocean dwellers had a growth spurt 3 million years ago.

Dinosaur Fossils Don’t Get Much Better Than This

The as-yet-unnamed nodosaur was so well preserved that it “might have been walking around a couple of weeks ago.”

Newly Discovered Dinosaur Named After Monster From 'Ghostbusters'

There is no ankylosaurus, only Zuul.

Interactive Map Plots Where Every Known Fossil Was Discovered

See who your neighbors would have been 100 million years ago.

5 Extinctions That Wiped Much of Life off Planet Earth

The next time you’re feeling less than brave, remind yourself you’re already one of nature’s great success stories.

Charles Robert Knight via Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

Here's What a Neanderthal's Voice Might Have Sounded Like

Less grunting, more hoarse screaming.

The Overlooked Paleontologist Who May Have Inspired 'She Sells Sea Shells'

Though Anning didn't receive her due credit from the male naturalists who reaped the benefits of her labors, word of the fossil-hunter's many achievements still managed to spread far and wide during her lifetime.

Nimesh M via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.0

The Field Museum Is Launching a Beer Based on Its T. rex, Sue

The pale ale is called psuedoSue.

These Proto-Wombats Could Chomp Like Nobody’s Business

Paleontologists say a prehistoric marsupial called "Didelphodon vorax" had the strongest bite force of any mammal that’s ever lived.

Scientists Discover Seal-Like Prehistoric Predator

The animal lived off the coast of what is now Washington state about 10 million years ago and probably fished like seals do, relying on the power of its oversized eyes to track its prey.

Internet Archive Book Images via Wikimedia Commons

Experience a 1920s Fossil Expedition With This 360-Degree Video

The American Museum of Natural History is highlighting its artifacts in a whole new way.

Researchers Reclassify Itsy-Bitsy, Prehistoric “Beardogs”

Two specimens of the Chihuahua-sized animals have just rearranged the branches of the carnivore family tree.

What Long-Dead Bees Can Tell Us About Our Ancestors

The presence and contents of a fossilized nest suggest that Australopithecus africanus lived in a dry, savannah-like environment.

John Cooke via Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

DNA Shows Infamous ‘Piltdown Man’ Hoax Was Two Parts Human, One Part Ape

But who was behind the hoax?

Honymand via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 4.0

Some Woolly Mammoths Survived Until Just 5600 Years Ago

A new study finds that mammoths were roaming Alaska’s St. Paul Island as recently as 5600 years ago, but even then their days were numbered.

PREV NEXT